Necessary Deceptions
by KumoriYami
Summary: AU Shepard knows the Reapers are coming. Unfortunately no one believes her and her military has effectively turned its back on her. She'll do everything in her power to stop them, even if it means allying herself with a known terrorist organization, but it doesn't help that the Council is sending in their own agents after her, especially since her ex-boyfriend is among them...


_A/N: K its about 4:30 in the morning... i cant stleep at also im gonna go type this out now... hope you enjoy and forgive my grammar and English and other mistakes... ive been writing these plot ideas for a week now and i need to do something with them... anyways this is my first ever mass effect fan fic... so be nice dammit lol. im sorta working on another ME fic idea right now... and if u read my 07 Ghost fics... just know im aiming to update this week... anyway so this story is a/u... maybe ill just upload a chapter before going to sleep... please reviewwwww. oh and im leaving this as r:T for now... unsure if im gonna change that by the next chapter...enjoy..._

* * *

Chapter 1 - Prologue

She was sitting at the bar in one of Afterlife's VIP rooms. She was supposed to be on two days of mandatory shore leave as Miss Lawson put it, trying to relax and enjoy some much needed downtime. The Normandy was now docked at Omega for restocking and its captain had two days of "relaxation." No sooner than they had docked, Shepard had found herself at Afterlife doing her best to waste 48 hours by drinking the time away, trying to forget her problems. It was hardly six months since the Council had declared her rogue and had begun sending their best after her... Six months since she had turned her back on the Council to take matters in her own hand. Six months since the discovery of the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime... and it was six months since had she cut all ties with her friends and former allies.

* * *

She had ordered everyone on her original crew to leave her ship, unwilling to drag their names down with her. Joker was the only ones who had insisted on staying aboard the Normandy and that if she was going to need the best damn pilot there was, along with Dr. Karin Chakwas and Dr. Liara T'soni. They had believed her story about the Reapers, as did the only other friends Shepard had made an effort to somehow stay in contact with. Shepard had managed to convince Wrex and Tali to leave the Normandy to strengthen and warn their respective peoples of this threat and to their best to prepare them. Everyone knew that Shepard would take nearly whatever action necessary to stop the Reapers, even if no one else would believe her.

Kaiden and Ashley both thought that she was crazy but she could vividly imagine the sense of betrayal they had all felt when the news hit that humanity's first Spectre had gone rogue, but what still bothered her was the pain across her boyfriend's face as she broke up with him and left him at C-sec... Counsellor David Anderson who had initially persuaded Shepard into informing the Council of her discovery had promised to keep the Alliance off her back as much as possible, circumstance permitting, and that the Alliance would immediately start preparing for the Reapers. He knew that the Reapers were a threat that the galaxy could not simply ignore. He gave her his blessing as he watched her steal a state of the art Alliance Frigate – the Normandy SR1.

* * *

She had hardly been on the run for a week when she had been contacted by the pro-human terrorist organization, Cerberus. Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor had presented Cerberus' case to her. They had their own evidence that the Reapers were coming, and that they were a threat to humanity. Shepard reluctantly met with them at one of their space stations, after they had programmed her ship into getting to the location to maintain confidentiality. She had talked to the Illusive Man. According to him, Cerberus knew of the Reaper invasion sometime during the First Contact War. The organization also spent much of their resources investigating human colonies and a race known as the Collectors. Following that meeting, Cerberus decommissioned the Normandy and literally spent a month rebuilding it so that was more updated and improved. They did neglect mentioning the installation of an AI, but the AI referred to as EDI had proven itself a hundred times over when they encountered trouble. Shepard still maintained an uneasy partnership with the organization and then spent her next five months consumed in blowing up mercenary bases, investigating empty colonies, doing odd jobs for Aria on Omega, attacking the Collectors, and finding out who the Collectors were, all in an effort to put her emotions and past behind her, and was now attempting to drink her sorrows away.

She poured herself another drink, sighed, and downed the drink in one go. She was probably on either her third or fourth drink when she had grabbed one of the two pillows on the sofa and collapsed over it as she closed her eyes.

* * *

Her eyes opened immediately at the sound of footsteps and the door being locked being behind the intruder. She was still intoxicated and struggled to see her uninvited guest. _I told Aria, two days... no damn guests or jobs..._ She wasn't expecting anyone and her heart immediately sank the instant she recognized the figure in the doorway. _Dammit... _She didn't know what was worse. The fact that the Reapers coming was inevitable, the fact that they had enslaved the Protheans, the fact that the Collectors were Protheans, or the fact that her ex-boyfriend, the one person who she truly cared for more than anything, was standing in front of her, and probably there to arrest her. "Officer Garrus Vakarian..." Her voice was on edge. The turian and his friends had been on her trail constantly for months since she had gone rogue... "Figures that'd you'd be able to find me...What did you to get Aria to tell you where I am?" They hadn't even seen each other since she had broken her own heart. She did figure that since he was C-Sec and had a relationship with her that the Council would send him. She gave a bitter smile and broke into a hollow laugh. She struggles to get to her feet and quickly shoots a glance towards her armour and weapons stashed in the corner, hoping he didn't catch it. "I'm surprised, they didn't send any Spectres after me this time?"

His browplate twitched slightly. Spectres Saren Arterius and Nihlus Kyrik had nearly caught Shepard the last time she was on the Citadel to receive information that she had purchased from Fist, one of the Shadow Broker's agents, who had insisted they meet in person despite knowing it was a damn set-up, but Liara had needed the information regarding the Protheans. She had barely managed to leave in a shuttle after a long and chaotic gunfight with the two Spectres in the Wards. Now, Garrus was watching his elusive prey like a hawk. He had seen her eyes dart in the direction of her gear and sighed. He didn't want this to turn into a fight and did his best to level his voice and remain relatively calm. "The Council did order me to bring you in..."

"I'm not going anywhere C-Sec, and I don't answer to the Council!" she spat out. She really didn't want Garrus to see her... no matter how much she herself wanted to see him. She forced herself to meet Garrus' gaze. If it came down to a fight, she would most definitely lose. Closed quarters and against an expert of hand-to-hand combat wasn't a great idea. If she bolted to he would most definitely be able to grab her and he was undoubtedly stronger than her, not to mention it would take her a minute to hack the lock that Garrus had used on the door. Regardless of how she assessed the situation, she had a considerable disadvantage. She let out a deep breath in disappointment. "Just... just leave me alone..."

Garrus sighed. He hadn't finished... "But I'm not here officially, or on Council business right now." She watched as Garrus' eyes fell on her... and quickly turned her head away. She did not need this and the drinks were certainly not helping. His sounded pained but at the same time, she could still hear the warmth in his voice...it almost sounded like longing. He cautiously walked forward and tentatively reached out to touch her cheek and lifted her face so he could see her eyes. "But I'm worried about you Shepard..."

Shepard met his gaze and muttered softly. "Garrus...I... I know." She looked away and sighed. "What now Garrus? I know you'd never be able to slip away from Nihlus without giving him a reason, and knowing him he'd only let you if promised to return with information concerning me or led to my capture..." She gently brushed his hand away from her face and lowered her head and turned her back towards him. "And I don't want to talk..." They were directly in the middle of the room and Garrus was too close... She could feel his breath over her neck.

"Saren's pushing for the Council to have you declared a traitor and shot on sight in Citadel space!"The turian grabbed her by the shoulder and forcefully turned her to face him. She was slightly surprised that he was being so forceful. "And I hear you're working with Cerberus! Don't you remember what they did to Admiral Kahoku?" Shepard hung her head. She knew of Cerberus' reputation, but she could only focus on listening to Garrus' anger and frustration. It was a reminder of what she hadn't wanted to deal with. He sighed again. "Shepard, I go through every day worrying about you!" His eyes were pained.

Shepard flung his talons off her shoulder and faced her lover. She was on the verge of tears now. "I know," she let out in a meek voice. "That's why I left..." _I'm sorry... _The commando's eyes immediately narrowed at the opportunity. Shepard pushed Garrus away from her with all of her strength and bolted towards her weapons.

Unfortunately, Garrus had anticipated this and had firmly grabbed her wrist. She immediately sent a swift kick towards his hand, forcing him to release her. "Dammit Shepard!" The woman said nothing and bit her lip in silence. _Dammit... _The look on his face was saying that he didn't want it to come to this...He tackled her and she instinctively shut her eyes to brace for the impact as she felt her back being slammed into the wall. When she opened her eyes, Garrus' left arm was over her neck and pinning her against the wall. She struggled defiantly as her attention became focused on the needle that was brought forth in his right hand until he had injected it into her neck. He didnt want to resort to such a tactic but it was going to get the job done...

Almost immediately, she felt her body weaken as the sedative took effect... Her world was slowly blackening out before her... "You... cheater..." she managed to say as she fell unconscious into the turian's protective arms.

* * *

ANd.. thats chapter 1... now its 5:53am and done writing... my head sorta hurts and im thinking of sleeping but i really dont wanna...and now 6:24 and im finally done thinking of a name for this fic and thinking i should go sleep or pull an all nighter... now its 6:54 and im throwing this is now cuz im sorta unsure whether or not i want this to make this story... have its rating changed to M...sorta toying around with that idea. anyway hope you enjoyed... no set release schedule planned yet cuz im in the middle of juggling other ones... oh and please review...

Blausen: i went and reread it and made changes! thanks for picking up on that! and its 7:27 and im probably gonna spend my day sleeping...


End file.
